Chaos Rising
by AbyssKeeper
Summary: Five years after Cocoon fell strange things start to happen. People vanish, places change, strange creatures attack, and mysterious structures appear. Lightning wants answers and her quest for them will take her far beyond Cocoon or Gran Pulse. Sequel to One Winged l'Cie.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any part of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy XIII and blah blah blah usual stuff, don't sue me for writing this Squenix.

It has been five years since the day Cocoon fell, since Jenova had been frozen in crystal, and the grand crystal pillar appeared to hold the hollow world safely above the surface of Gran Pulse. The populace of Cocoon had been able to migrate down to the lower world as they did not have much of a choice. Within the first year after The Fall, more than half of the food producing fal'Cie died out, crippling Cocoon's ability to sustain life. As food became more and more scarce, panic set in as people were still terrified of the world below. It strained the remaining military of Cocoon to control the panicking populace but they pulled through. Also during the first year after The Fall Lightning Farron, the woman that brought the heroes together and the single most important person in events leading to The Fall, though she would deny it every time, became pregnant and later, just before the beginning of 2AF (two years After Fall) gave birth to twin girls.

Three major settlements were set up, the first being Oerba as it had been mostly intact but Fang had a huge problem with the Cocoon citizens stomping all over her home but Vanille was able to bring her around. The second settlement was named New Bodhum in memory of those wrongly accused in the Purge, and the third was New Eden, for those lost in the last battle. One year after the initial migration, swaths of land had been cleared for farming.

Two years after The Fall, the settlements started expanding and the heroes of the war against Jenova and the Sanctum moved into Oerba, as Fang and Vanille refused to live anywhere else. Angeal and Genesis took the side of the Pulsians mostly because Oerba reminded them of Banora. The entire group quickly settled into near-civilian life, they did what they could to help the new, unnamed, government and the refugees in Oerba. Tasks mostly involving getting new immigrants from Cocoon get settled into Oerba and keeping the area around the settlement clear of Pulsian beasts.

The third year after The Fall was surprisingly quiet and uneventful which relieved the Cocoon military and government but the fourth year was a nightmare. Storms ravaged the unprepared settlements, except Oerba which had been built to survive the tropical storms, wildfires took many of the farms and orchards the populace depended on leading to a food shortage. Oerba was the only settlement to remain fully intact after the fourth year. 5 AF was dedicated to rebuilding what was lost the previous year.

Lightning sat on a bench in the front yard of her house watching her twin toddlers play in the grass and listening to numerous construction projects going on around the neighborhood. All minor repair jobs after the last storm. There were times she wished she could be helping repair the damaged houses but she had to care for her daughters as everyone else was too busy to babysit them.

One of Lightning's daughters, Lucrecia, had slightly more pale pink hair than Lightning, which could only be noticed if they were together, and bright green eyes just like her father. The other girl, Averia, had silver hair with the slightest hint of pink in it and blue eyes just like her mother. They were named after the mothers the two soldiers never knew. Lightning and Sephiroth adored their daughters and all of their friends and family were glad the two soldiers had children. It softened both of them to the point where they would openly smile around everyone.

"Hey Light," Hope called as he entered the yard. Lightning greeted him with a small wave, never taking her eyes off her twin daughters.

In the last five years, Hope had grown tall and strong. Though he was young, he had proven to be exceptionally intelligent and for that Cid Raines had made him a part of the development council for Oerba. The elder members would always refute the claim, but many knew it was Hope that kept Oerba functioning most of the time.

"Hey," a second male voice greeted, Lightning greeted him with a small wave as well.

The second voice belong to Hope's childhood friend and current bodyguard, Noel Kreiss. He was the same age and build as Hope but he had longer dark hair, blue eyes, and was easily as smart as Hope but was more impulsive and shortsighted. Noel had been orphaned during the Fall and was fortunate enough to be sent to Oerba with other refugees where Hope found him and Bartholomew Estheim took him in. He joined the Guardian Corps as soon as he could and became a remarkable fighter with a unique dual sword fighting style.

"So what brings you by, Councilman?" Lightning asked with a smirk, Hope hated being called a Councilman. She took a glance at the visitors and saw Hope in his suit and Noel in full uniform

"The older members are having a meeting." Hope said with a shrug as he sat next to Lightning, Noel remained standing with his back to the wall.

"Without you? Or is it about you?"

"Probably the latter. I guess they're getting tired of a kid stepping on their toes." Hope's comment earned a chuckle from Lightning.

"They're a bunch of narrow minded fal'Cie loyalists. They're only happy if everyone is obeying without question." Noel said, keeping his eyes on the surrounding area.

"You should be careful about throwing those comments around," Lightning warned him "There are a lot of people that still side with the fal'Cie."

"Well they're just as foolish as the fal'Cie." Noel spat back.

"Some people just want order in the world and with what's happening in our world right now, I can't blame them." Lightning responded.

"We were under the rule of the fal'Cie for so long that we don't know how to lead ourselves. So the people in charge are emulating the only example of leadership we ever had." Hope said to his two friends "Makes me glad that Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis are around to rally the military."

"Yeah. We wouldn't have made it this long without them." Noel speculated.

"Speaking of Sephiroth though, where is he?" Hope asked.

"He took a detachment to New Eden to help the rebuilding effort. Angeal went with him to keep the people in high spirits. Genesis is doing both things in New Bodhum." Lightning answered.

No one spoke up after Lightning's response, the three remained silent for a solid minute before Hope broke the silence between them.

"Seen Vanille lately?" the platinum blond asked the pinkette.

"Yeah. She's starting to show a bit." Lightning answered, Hope nodded and made a 'hmm' sound "There'll be a little Genesis or Vanille running around soon."

"I bet Angeal will love that." Hope commented sarcastically.

"He's used to dealing with children. He did choose to mentor Zack, remember." Lightning joked. She and Hope shared a laugh and they continued talking about their friends and sharing stories.

As the sun started to set Hope was called back to the council hall and Lightning gathered her daughters. She fed the toddlers their dinner, bathed them, and put them to bed. The twins shared a bed because they were small enough, cried for each other when they seperated, and there wasn't enough space for two beds in their room. Lightning looked at the photo on her nightstand as she lay on her bed. The photo was taken by Amodar a few days after the twins were born, it was a group picture of the former l'Cie and SOLDIERs. Lightning and Sephiroth were sitting on a loveseat each holding one of the twins, she had Averia and he had Lucrecia. The others were on both sides of and behind the loveseat. Sazh had Dajh on his shoulders, Snow had his arm around Serah, Zack was holding Aerith bridal style, Vanille had Hope in a headlock, Angeal, Genesis, and Fang were just standing proudly. The best part of the photo, in everyone's shared opinion, was that everyone was smiling with true happiness, even Sephiroth.

Lightning smiled to herself as she looked at the picture and drifted to sleep. It wasn't long before the dream she always had when Sephiroth was away occured. She never could remember what it was about, just that there was a lot of fighting in it. Whenever the dream occured, the pinkette would wake up near midnight and race to her daughters' room to check on them. Seeing them peacefully sleeping snapped her out of the overwhelming concern the dream gave her. Everytime she would smile softly at how adorable her daughters looked cuddled up to each other while sleeping and just write off her actions to parental worries.

The next morning, the pink haired former l'Cie was awoken by her giggling daughters jumping on her. She couldn't help but give a motherly laugh as she sat up and swept them both into a hug. That's when she noticed they were already dressed and their hair had already been brushed. Lightning got out of bed and was all but dragged along by the twins. Sephiroth was sitting on their couch in the living room and Lightning went and sat beside him, the twins climbed up into their laps.

"Morning," He said with a small smile "How did you sleep?"

"Someone turned my alarm off." She reply "So quite well. What are you doing home so early?"

"Angeal told me to go home to my family. Said he'd keep everything under control. Why though? Enjoy not having me around?"

"No. We missed you." Lightning leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Sephiroth's cheek.

"I missed you too." Sephiroth reply as he placed his arm around Lightning's shoulders.

They sat there enjoying each other's presence for some time as their kids got bored and started to play on the floor. The two soldiers watched the toddlers for a time and Lightning noticed her vision getting a bit blurry around the edges. She wiped at her eyes and it went away, she almost laughed at how emotional she was in private with Sephiroth. Lightning knew Sephiroth was also much more emotional but he still tried to hide, though she couldn't blame him. He wasn't used to expressing how he really felt, most of his life he kept it hidden.

"Mommy's bleeding." Lucrecia said a few minutes later.

"Your nose, mom." Averia said after.

"What?" Lightning responded as she touched her nostrils and found out she did in fact have a nosebleed "Oh geez," she commented, keeping it clean around the kids, as she got up to find a tissue.

"Are you alright?" Sephiroth asked as he got up to follow her. The twins followed their parents.

"Yeah, I'm fine, this is just really random," Lightning answered, entering the bathroom to use toilet paper to stop the bloodflow. She looked to Sephiroth and saw in his eyes he was hiding his true concern behind the innocent question "It's stopping already."

"It's a bit unusual though." Sephiroth commented, his tone telling Lightning he suspected something.

The rest of the day was uneventful, much to Lightning and Sephiroth's appreciation. It was rare for them to have a day to themselves and the twins. With the migrated society constantly on the edge of collapse, Sephiroth was always busy but it was understandable as he was one of the handful of people trying to get a new world up and running.

The next day, just after lunch, there was a knock at the door. Sephiroth answered and Lightning stood beside him, it was a Cavalry corpral in full uniform and it took the soldier a moment to realize he was standing face to face with the commander of the entire military and one of the heroes. He snapped a quick salute after his moment of stunned silence.

"What is it corpral?" Sephiroth nearly growled. He did not enjoy having his time with his family interrupted.

"Your presence is requested at Headquarters, Sir."

"What ever the issue is, contact Primarch Raines, Brigadier General Hewley, or Brigadier General Rhapsodos." Sephiroth reply.

"Primarch Raines is asking for you, Sir." The soldier glanced around nervously "He said there are some strange readings and signals coming from Cocoon."

"What?" both Lightning and Sephiroth said.

"We already sent a team to investigate and they said the readings and signals were coming from Eden." Sephiroth shared a look with Lightning as the soldier spoke "Then they disappeared."

"They just vanished?" Sephiroth was trying to sound skeptical but it wasn't working very well.

"Another squad was sent in to find out what happened but now we have a dozen soldiers that are M-I-A." The soldier was a bit nervous under Sephiroth's gaze.

Sephiroth turned to Lightning to tell her he was going but she just smiled and spoke first "I know. Just be careful out there." Sephiroth gave her a light kiss, told the soldier to wait in the car, then raced to get changed into his uniform.

As Lightning watched them drive off, she got the same feeling of dread whenever she watched him leave. She wrote it off as civilian worry and that she was in love with the man, they did have two kids after all, and hated to know he was heading into potential extreme danger and she wouldn't know what happened to him for at least two days. She tried pushing the worry aside, she shut the door and went to play with her daughters, they always helped her feel better after Sephiroth left. But this time was different. He was heading into the site of the final battle against Jenova, who knows what, or who, was waiting there?

**And so begins the sequel to One Winged l'Cie. What do you think? Up to my usual bad beginning standards? Don't worry, it'll get better, I promise. I suck at beginnings afterall. Funny thing is I've had this done for a while, just needed to think up a title and a summary. Anyways…**

**Please leave a review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is chapter 2, I hope you enjoy it. And I actually read this over before posting it, so there shouldn't be as many errors as there usually are in my chapters.**

Lightning awoke once again after having the dream she could never remember besides there being a lot of fighting. She tossed aside the blankets and sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. Deep feelings of dread, despair, and loneliness washed over her and settled deep into her gut. Glancing at her alarm clock, it read quarter after midnight. Lightning audibly sigh, the dream and what she did afterward was becoming routine. It was like clockwork, as predictable as the tides, and Lightning hated it. It was becoming increasingly rare for her to sleep through the night, the dream always woke her up. With another audible sigh she stood and proceeded to get a glass of water, passing the chair in her room with her uniform neatly draped over the back.

When she got the adjoining living room, kitchen, and dining room, Lightning saw Fang sitting on the couch working on her new sari. The blue one the huntress wore during Cocoon's Fall had gotten rather tattered during those events and the following five years. Fang was working on making her new sari exactly identical to what the old one had been before it got tattered. It was a long arduous task but Fang didn't mind as it was a part of who she had been before being made a l'Cie.

"How's the work going?" Lightning asked as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard.

"Besides the cramps, i's goin' good." Fang answered "Can't sleep?"

"No. It was that dream again. Just wish I could at least remember it." Lightning sat on the other end of the couch and sipped her water.

"Ya sure it's the same dream?" Fang said with a smile, not halting her needlework.

"Well… No. But I just know it is. I don't know how but I know its the same dream." the pinkette explained.

"As long as yer sure, Sunshine." the brunette huntress reply without taking her eyes off her work. Normally Lightning would have been annoyed by Fang's use of the nickname but after three, almost four, years of being roommates with her and Vanille, she got used to it. The two Pulsians shared the larger room in the house, offered by Lightning as she didn't need very much space for her lack of possessions.

"Talk to you later, Fang." Lightning said as she finished her drink.

"Sleep well."

As Lightning lay in her bed in an attempt to fall asleep she glanced at the photograph on her bedside table. It was too dark to actually see it but she had memorized it. The photo was of all the former l'Cie and SOLDIERs minus one. They were all standing in Oerba's main square, Snow had his arm around Serah, Zack was holding Aerith bridal style, Vanille had Hope in a headlock but they were both laughing, and Sazh had Dajh on his shoulders. Everyone had wide smiles of true happiness except Lightning, Genesis, and Angeal. Lightning's expression was blank, Genesis had a hint of annoyance, and Angeal had a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Lightning didn't know why but every time she looked at the photo it seemed wrong to her. For three years that photo had stood in it's frame on her bedside table but it always seemed wrong.

The morning was the usual routine of a quick shower, put on her uniform, and grab a cup of coffee that Vanille made for her because Vanille was always somehow awake before Lightning nowadays. When Lightning got to her office, there was the usual stack of papers and reports waiting for her. She silently cursed who ever fooled her into thinking being a Gaurdian Corps Colonel wasn't a desk job. Hours slipped by as she read, signed, and filed a multitude of reports and paperwork, she almost wanted there to be recruits to train. As much as she hated dealing with fresh recruits, it was far better than sitting at a desk getting hand cramps and eye strain.

Her office door started to open and she got ready to tear into whoever was behind it. Colonel Lightning Farron had a very strict knock first rule, she threatened to knock out whoever broke that rule. But she would always settle for yelling and making the rule breaker whimper. Before she could start unleashing her fury, Hope walked through the door with his childhood friend and current bodyguard Noel Kreiss.

In the last five years, Hope had grown tall and strong. Though he was young, he had proven to be exceptionally intelligent and for that Cid Raines had made him a part of the development council for Oerba. The elder members would always refute the claim, but many knew it was Hope that kept Oerba functioning most of the time. Noel on the other hand, was the same age and build as Hope but he had longer dark hair, blue eyes, and was easily as smart as Hope but was more impulsive and shortsighted. Noel had been orphaned during the Fall and was fortunate enough to be sent to Oerba with other refugees where Hope found him and Bartholomew Estheim took him in. He joined the Guardian Corps as soon as he could and became a remarkable fighter with a unique dual sword fighting style.

"Afternoon, Colonel Farron." Hope greeted with a slight smile as he sat in one of the chairs opposite Lightning. Noel shut the door and remain standing.

"Afternoon, Councilman Estheim," Lightning reply with slight smirk, she knew Hope hated being called that by his friends "What brings you by?"

"The other council members are having a meeting." Hope said with a shrug.

"Without you? Or is it about you?"

"Probably the latter. I guess they're getting tired of a kid stepping on their toes." Hope's comment earned a chuckle from Lightning.

"They're a bunch of narrow minded fal'Cie loyalists. They're only happy if everyone is obeying without question." Noel said, keeping his eyes on the window behind Lightning.

"You should be careful about throwing those comments around," Lightning warned him "There are a lot of people that still side with the fal'Cie."

"Well they're just as foolish as the fal'Cie." Noel spat back.

"Some people just want order in the world and with what's happening in our world right now, I can't blame them." Lightning responded.

"We were under the rule of the fal'Cie for so long that we don't know how to lead ourselves. So the people in charge are emulating the only example of leadership we ever had." Hope said to his two friends "Makes me glad we have you, Angeal and Genesis to keep the military in one piece."

"Yeah, the heroes that stopped a large scale Pulsian invasion from killing everyone are a great morale booster." Lightning's statement was mostly sarcasm. The former l'Cie and SOLDIERs were a great morale booster for the migrant populace but the large scale Pulsian invasion that destroyed Orphan was the cover story Raines came up with.

"Speaking of us heroes, Snow and Serah invited us all over tonight?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, trying to keep us all closely connected."

"Well we don't get much closer than teaming up to save the world." Hope attempted to joke "But I guess after that journey most of us just wanted some space. It's kind of sad, really."

"Yeah, all the heroes of Cocoon going their own ways." Lightning reply "There never was very much holding our ragtag group together in the first place, though."

"We were pretty much just thrown together by the events." Hope's phone started to ring as he finished speaking "Guess it's time for me to let you get back to work."

"See you later Councilman Estheim." Lightning said with a slight smirk.

"Likewise, Colonel Farron." Hope answered his phone on the way out of her office, Noel close behind.

Once the door was shut, Lightning stood up and looked out the window towards Cocoon atop it's crystal spire. While staring at the crystal glittering in the sunlight, her thoughts wander towards the only one that had not come out of crystal stasis. The man was the only reason they had managed to defeat and seal away Jenova.

"You know, Sephiroth, I really do think you were what held us together as a group. May not have been the friendliest guy out there," Lightning chuckled at her own joke about him "But you were a natural leader and kept us going somehow." She silently stared at the crystal monolith off in the distance for several seconds "How different would things be if you came out of crystal stasis with us? Why did you stay behind?" With a sigh Lightning set back to work on the infinite amount of paperwork on her desk.

* * *

><p>When Lightning arrived at Serah's house, she was greeted with a hug from her little sister who then apologized for having to back into the kitchen with Aerith. The soldier stored her sheathed gunblade on top of shelf, to keep it far out of reach of Serah's kids, and went to the backyard where everyone was gathered at the time. Zack and Vanille were playing with Snow and Serah's blond son and daughter, Tidus and Rikku, Fang was grilling some food with Snow, and the last four were sitting around the picnic table, that Snow made, talking about something. Lightning decided to join the group at the table. She felt just a little awkward sitting there in her dress-like uniform, it was a bit similar to the PSICOM uniform Jihl had worn but with her combat boots instead of heels, while everyone else was dressed casually.<p>

"And how is the colonel today?" Angeal asked her.

"Stressed, as usual. The damage from last year's storms is still affecting everyone." Lightning reply.

"Good thing Oerba was built to survive those." Sazh commented.

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised it lasted centuries without maintenance." Hope also commented.

"Well the Pulsians had to deal with the storms as part of their lives. We never had extreme weather up on Cocoon." Lightning added.

"It'll take time but the populace will adapt. Humanity is tenacious like that." Genesis said

The food was served a few minutes later and Snow moved the patio table to the end of the picnic table so there was enough seating. Tidus and Rikku squeezed onto either side of Lightning, she loved her adorable and very energetic niece and nephew, making her a bit worried about something staining her uniform. Many stories and laughs were shared by the group, some at the expense of some of the other group members, even Lightning found herself smiling and laughing after a time. But there was one little nagging thought in her mind. She couldn't stop thinking that they were being selfish by laughing and sharing time when one of them, arguably the most important one of them in Lightning's opinion, was still frozen in crystal. The colonel was starting to admit to herself that she missed Sephiroth and wanted him to be here with them.

As the sun set and night started to overtake the sky, Serah put her children to bed and the group started to disperse home. Lightning stayed behind as she and Serah had planned for her to stay at the Villier's house for a couple days. The elder pinkette even went as far as booking vacation days two months in advance. She and Serah stayed up late, sharing a bottle of wine, and mostly talked about Sephiroth. Serah met him briefly before the attack on Eden, and over the years of hearing about him Serah determined two things. He was a remarkable man that had always been under appreciated and Lightning had fallen for him. Her sister may deny it every time, but Serah knew the truth.

Later that night, like clockwork, Lightning had the dream she never remembered save for the fighting. She awoke with a start and deep feelings of dread, despair, and loneliness, then got up to get a glass of water. Standing alone in the kitchen beneath the only light on in the house, Lightning mused about the dreams. It was hard for her to write them off as PTSD from her entire time as a l'Cie only because her gut said the dreams, or dream rather, were unrelated. And Lightning Farron was not one to argue with instincts, they saved her life many times during the l'Cie journey. Eventually giving up on her musing, she returned to bed.

The next day, Lightning was the first one up which is unsurprising from a military member. Once everyone else was up and ready to start the day, she spent the entire morning playing with and reading to Serah's kids. It was obvious Lightning loved Tidus and Rikku as if they were her own kids and they loved Lightning just as much as their own mother. That made Serah very happy to see, though it saddened her constantly to know that Lightning was losing her youth to the memory of someone.

At about noon, Lightning pulled herself away from Serah's kids to help prepare lunch by setting the table. She paused to observe the kids, mostly to make sure they were safe, and as she watched she noticed her vision get a bit blurry around the edges. Moving to wipe at her eyes, for the slightest of moments Tidus and Rikku were replaced by two little girls, one with pink hair a shade paler than Lightning's and the other with striking silver hair. The image and blurriness in her vision vanished as fast as it appeared and Lightning was left dumbstruck, the image of the little girls tugged at her heart but she had no idea why. Serah noticed Lightning freeze on the spot.

"Lightning?" Serah called gently. Tidus and Rikku looked over at the adult women.

"Aunt Lightning!" Rikku called.

"Your nose is bleeding!" Tidus added.

"What?" Lightning put a finger under her nose only to find out she was in fact bleeding "Oh geez." She commented, keeping it clean around the kids, and started for the bathroom with Serah on her heels.

"Are you alright?" Serah asked, the worry obvious in her tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine, this is just really random." Lightning grabbed a few sheets of toilet paper to reduce the blood flow from her nose. She glanced at Serah in the doorway and the concern on her sister's face was comforting "It's stopping already."

"It's a bit unusual though." Serah commented but as she spoke Lightning saw the faintest ghostly image of Sephiroth in the bathroom doorway, leaning onto the left side, his left.

There was concern in his eyes, but not a soldier's concern. No, the look in his eyes was far more civilian, as if he were looking at a close friend that was ill. Maybe even a loved one. Then Lightning thought back on the earlier vision, the one of the two little girls, the thoughts connected but it still didn't make any sense to her. With a blink the image was gone. Serah noticed how her sister was looking to her left as if she was expecting something to be there.

"Lightning?" Serah said in an attempt to get her attention, but Lightning continued to stare and after a few moments she gasped, blinked, and shook her head slightly "Claire?"

"I'm really sorry, Serah but I have to go." Lightning said as she pushed past Serah to get to the guest room for her things.

"What? Why?" Serah was far more confused than anything.

"I have to talk to Genesis and Angeal," Lightning answered as she slipped on her boots and grabbed Blaze Edge, rigging the straps of the sheath to make it hang on her back.

"Lightning!" Serah just about yelled, making her sister freeze in place "Tell me what's going on."

"Something is wrong with-..." Lightning wasn't sure how to explain what was wrong or how it even was wrong, it just was "Everything. I have to talk to Genesis and Angeal because they'll understand."

"And I won't?" Serah's hurt and outraged tone stabbed deep into Lightning's chest.

"Serah I-" Lightning stopped short when she faced her sister "You're gonna think I'm crazy."

"Try me."

"I-" Lightning had no clue where to begin. The visions were just that and her only evidence was a hunch "I had a vision," Serah's eyebrow moved into a questioning position "Of Sephiroth, standing in the bathroom doorway while my nose was bleeding. And in the dining room, I saw two little girls. One had pink hair and the other had silver."

"Lightning I…" Serah was speechless "You're right. Go talk to Angeal and Genesis. They're more used to this weird stuff."

Lightning gave Serah an apologetic look, a quick hug, and flew out of the house to find the two men in question. It didn't take long to find them, they worked with together, were helping out with repairs around Oerba, and they owned cell phones like everyone else from Cocoon. After locating them, Lightning wasted no time on formalities, she launched straight into explaining what happened. After hearing the story, Angeal and Genesis shared a look before responding.

"Sounds like something sinister might be at play here," Angeal commented.

"We can't make any assumptions at this time, Angeal," Genesis reply "An event like Cocoon's fall and crystallization is something that would likely have unforeseen consequences."

"And Meteorfall?" Angeal asked back.

"Gaia has suffered greatly for that, Deepground's assault was too soon after to learn the full extent of the damage caused by Meteorfall."

"What does that have to do with this?" Lightning asked, more than a little annoyed.

"Nothing, but maybe everything is related. We'll go investigate Cocoon and see what we can discover about this event. You stay here with Serah."

Lightning was about to protest but she knew she should stay with Serah. She nodded her response and watched the two men head off to collect their things. The pinkette knew they would believe her and she knew they would figure out what happened or is happening. Her next destination was Zack and Aerith's place to tell them Angeal and Genesis were leaving for a while, it was the least she could do knowing how much of a connection Zack had with Angeal.

Lightning never even considered the possibility that she would be the last one to see Angeal and Genesis.

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	3. Chapter 3

Three months have passed since Genesis and Angeal left to investigate Eden. Zack tried to remain his usual positive self the whole time but after the first month, everyone caught onto his misery and could tell he subconsciously blamed Lightning for Angeal's disappearance. He wasn't wrong in thinking that and Lightning knew it. If she had not informed Genesis and Angeal of her ordeal, they'd still be around. It made her feel beyond guilty, she always felt terrible whenever she passed Zack and Aerith's flower shop. He had tried several times to assure Lightning that he did not blame her but his behavior was always different around her. She noticed how he was always tense and how his smile flickered when they were in the same room. It just drove the wedge further between them.

Also over the last three months, the frequency of Lightning's dreams have increased drastically, to the point of multiple times a night. She was able to hide it for a while but one can't hide sleep deprivation for long. The pinkette started experiencing visions as well, visions of the life that didn't happen. Lack of sleep due to the dream she could never remember coupled with the visions of another life led to Amodar sending Lightning off on medical leave, two months ago. However, once the distraction of work was taken away Lightning's condition deteriorated further.

Now Lightning barely slept and the sleep deprivation was giving her hallucinations on top of the visions. Serah made her sister seek out therapy, which did not seem to be helping, and the former l'Cie got her to try all manner of sleep aids, which also failed to help. The problem kept on getting worse until Lightning started to randomly pass out for several minutes at a time but she was always awoken by the dream. However, the dream stopped bringing up feelings of dread and despair. It was arguable if Lightning had become immune to that effect or was too tired to be affected by those feelings. Either way, it was not good for her health.

"How was it?" Serah asked as she walked with Lightning to the car. Because of her condition, Serah had forbidden Lightning from driving.

"Useless." Lightning growled back. She hated the bi-weekly visits to the psychiatrist, having to tell every little detail about her life to a stranger only to have them dissect it all.

"This will help, Claire. Just have to give it some time," Serah said in a gentle tone. Lightning grunted her response. The younger Farron was doing her best to stay calm, reminding herself that Lightning was sick and that was causing her nasty behavior.

Lightning passed out almost immediately after she put on her seatbelt. Serah looked her over, at how much her sister's appearance had degraded since she fell ill. Lightning's hair was messy, had lost it's shine, and looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in a week; Serah knew it hadn't been. The bags under Lightning's eyes were impossible to miss, she was pale even with the normal Farron pale complexion, and under her eyelids, Lightning's eyes had lost their spark. It all made Serah feel terrible for not being able to help. Letting out a sigh, Serah started the vehicle and pulled out of the parking spot.

About halfway to the house Lightning shared with Fang and Vanille, Lightning awoke with a start and looked around confused for a second. She growled something quietly while settling back into the seat causing Serah to glance over at her. The two started a brief conversation about the current situation. Once at Lightning's house, Serah walked with her inside, spotting Lightning's phone on the dining table along with her wallet and jacket, and guided her sister to the bathroom. It took some aggressive argument but Serah was able to convince Lightning to help her get properly washed. It only further saddened Serah further to see how the lack of sleep was making Lightning irrationally irritable but also taking the fight out of her at the same time.

After she was properly cleaned and dressed, Serah walked Lightning to the kitchen and they both saw Fang and Vanille preparing dinner. Lightning dozed off at the table while Serah started setting it. Once again, Lightning awoke with a start a short while later and just in time to be served her food. She tuned out the conversation between the other three women and focused on eating but something lazily passed through her mind.

"Why are you here, Serah?" Lightning asked and she realized it sounded kind of rude "I mean, what about your kids?" She felt the other three staring at her.

"What?" Serah sounded confused "Lightning, I don't have kids." Something about Serah's statement was just wrong to Lightning, she could clearly remember two blond kids that were obviously related to Serah and Snow but she realized she couldn't call up names for them.

"Oh, I thought you did," Lightning nearly whispered as she continued eating.

"Snow and I decided to wait until things were a bit more stable," Serah reply solemnly. Fang and Vanille shared a worried glance, they were deeply worried about Lightning's health.

Lightning got up and went to bed as soon as her plate was clear, though she forgot to put her dishes in the sink. She also forgot to get changed for bed. The dream she had that night though, it was different, even if she had no memory of it. Lightning bolted upright, her pulse was racing, she was covered in cold sweat, and her breathing was rapid. The clock read quarter past midnight and her gut was telling her to go find Aerith. Racing out of bed and flying down the stairs, ignoring the fact of still being in her pajama shirt and shorts, she swiftly unlocked the door but grabbed hold of the doorframe as the ground started to shake.

The shaking stopped as fast as it started but Lightning waited for possible aftershocks. Opening the door she saw many other people of Oerba looking around, her friends and Serah among them. Slowly stepping away from the shared house, she heard the thunderous chime of bell and a quick look around told her no one else heard. A black cloud formed in the air above the town then a red bolt struck the ground

On the spot struck by the red lightning, there was a man laying on the ground face down. He had combat boots, black pants, a dark red shirt, fingerless gloves, and auburn hair. Two curved bladed short swords rested near his hands and he grabbed them as he started to stir and climb to his feet. He took a look at the crowd watching him and fell into a battle stance.

"Genesis?" Lightning heard Vanille ask.

"It's a copy!" Zack shouted as he raced through the gathered crowd with his SOLDIER sword ready.

Just before Zack and 'Genesis' engaged in combat, the red lightning started to rapidly strike the ground, each bolt leaving a man identical to the first. The copies of Genesis looked around confused for a moment, making Zack pause his attack, but then they raised their weapons and charged out at the gathered crowd. And chaos erupted. People started screaming, gunfire from the Guardian Corps started, and the former l'Cie (as well as Zack and Noel) leapt to action. Lightning had to race back inside to grab Blaze Edge.

Although lacking their magic and raw power from their l'Cie days, everyone still fought hard. Zack still had his materia and SOLDIER enhancements, he also fought the copies before, so he was having the easiest how he was shouting and calling out, the others could tell Zack was having fun. He was able to swoop in whenever someone needed help and most of the copies distracted. But the copies were endless. The dark cloud kept spitting them out with the red lightning and if one of those bolts hit a dead copy, he was revived. By the time Zack got bored with the Genesis copies, several red bolts hit the area right below the cloud, the central plaza of Oerba and they left something Zack was familiar with.

The former l'Cie ran after Zack but quickly fell far behind. When they finally reached the plaza, they all saw the red hulking six legged machine. Each leg terminated with what looked like a spear tip, it had a long tail with something that looked equally sharp, and it had two massive guns in place of arms. Lightning thought it looked like a huge robotic scorpion.

"Stay back!" Zack called to them "These things are dangerous! I got this!" Zack's warning was instantly lessened by his childlike glee at the end.

It was well deserved though. Zack knew what the machine was, he had fought many of them during Genesis' rampage on Gaia, he knew it's weaknesses and just how dangerous it could be. But he is a SOLDIER. He used to train on simulated Guard Scorpions for fun. The machine wasn't dangerous to him in any way.

Zack danced away from the gunfire of the Guard Scorpion and charged in to chop at it's legs when it paused to let the guns cool. It reared back on the other four legs to swipe at Zack but he was already out of range. The machine raised it's tail as it whirred to life. It fired three blue lasers in quick succession, each laser causing a small explosion as it made contact with the ground. Once the tail shifted back to its original state Zack took his chance, since it had to take a moment to let the weapon system cool. He charged towards it, kicked off the leg it raised to swipe at him, kicked off the machine's left gun arm, then drove his sword through it's 'head' making the large machine fall limp.

"See? No problem to a SOLDIER." Zack said with a grin as he pulled his sword free.

"So that's a machine from your world?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah," Zack answered, looking over his shoulder at it "Kinda weird that it and Genesis Copies were here. And what was that black cloud?" At his question everyone looked up at the now clear sky.

A bell chimed. A long deep thunderous 'bong' noise that reverberated through the ground and bones of all that heard it. Lightning clenched her fists, squeezed her eyes shut, and ground her teeth at the painfully loud noise. She looked around for a source but only saw that no one else seemed affected by the noise, her ears were still ringing from it and everyone else was idly chatting with each other. She looked at them, trying to figure out why none of them had reacted to the deafening bell chime. Before she could come to any conclusion a light caught her eye, as well as everyone else, the light turned out to be a very large mass of crystal.

They all watched it race through the air and disappear behind the buildings of Oerba, what sounded like an explosion sounded moments later and the ground shook. Sharing a look, everyone started running towards the impact zone. As they were running through town, they came across Team NORA.

"Where're you all going?" Lebreau asked the group of former l'Cie.

"Didn't you see the meteor?" Lightning asked immediately.

"We're going to check it out," Snow commented.

"In those clothes?" Yuj asked sarcastically to Lightning.

"Wasn't time to change," Lightning said with a glare that made Yuj take a step away "Let's keep going."

Several minutes later, they arrived at the crater made by the crystal mass. The mass was several feet tall and shaped like a meteor, albeit the random crystal formation was incredibly jagged. The whole group slowly approached the crystal mass, which was hovering about three feet off the ground. They circled around it and did their best to investigate the mass without actually interacting with it. And the crystal meteor remained silently hovering, motionless in its place above the ground. Minutes crawled by as the former l'Cie set up a perimeter along the ridge of the thirty foot wide crater. One thing stood out to all of them, it had been dead silent the entire time they had been in the crater, with the exception of Noel talking on his communicator. In the silence something had occurred to Lightning and she turned to Noel.

"Where are the Guardian Corps?"

"From what I heard from the radio, that black cloud was spitting out those copies and machines all over Oerba. Most of the GC forces are engaged in combat with the those things."

"What?" Fang asked in disbelief "Why can't we hear any of that? We're not that far from town."

"That crystal has to be affecting the area," Noel seculated.

"Then let's crack it open," Fang said with a feral grin as she spun her spear into a ready position.

"Fang-" Lightning was about to say something to stop her but was a moment late.

"Fang!" Snow shouted as Fang leaped at the crystal and did her best to drive her spear into it, but the moment her spear made contact, there was a flash and she was thrown to the ground. The huntress bounced when she hit the ground and tumbled back several feet.

"Fang!" Vanille called out as she ran over to help her adoptive sister.

"Guys…" Serah said with a worried tone and everyone looked back to the meteor.

They collectively saw a tall dark haired man with red eyes and some manner of mask covering most of his face. He wore a kind of jumpsuit with glowing blue lines running over it, the sleeves were shredded near his elbows revealing his tattooed arms, on his back were skeletal mechanical wings, and he was holding a sword with a red sheath and a red and black hilt flat in front of himself. Most of the gathered group recognized the man as one of the four Genesis summoned in the Eden attack. Those that recognized him were still unnerved by the fact that Genesis said he didn't have a soul, no free will.

"I come with a message from Genesis," The man said, his voice was soft and gentle "Vanille my dear, I grant you my materia blade, Rapier, as your binding rod will not be enough for the coming battles. I have implanted my knowledge, and secrets, of Rapier into the sword itself so you merely need to wield the sword to use it as I did."

Vanille cautiously stepped forward and took the sword from the man, who remained standing motionless. The redhead walked backwards away from the man and started to melt away into a puddle of darkness, which then slowly decreased in size until it was gone. Gadot was the first to break the crushing silence.

"What's was that!?" the large tan man meant the other man that just dissolved into darkness "And what's going on!?"

"That guy was something Genesis could summon. As for the last part…" Snow answered then trailed off.

"Anybody's guess at this point," Noel finished "I want to know what this thing is." He motioned towards the object that had been inside the crystal meteor.

"Let the Guardian Corps figure that out." Lightning stated "We should head back to town and help mop up the situation." No one argued so with one last glance at the object, everyone left it alone. Serah fell into step with Lightning.

"Claire," Serah started, quiet enough so only Lightning would hear "Are you okay?" Lightning was surprised Serah was asking about her well being when Vanille must be going through something akin to trauma, being given a sword by something summoned by the man she had been dating before he disappeared for months. Then Lightning realized, she felt fine. Tired from the fighting but that was it. The fatigue, mental and physical, from the two months of almost no sleep was just gone. She was awake, alert, and ready for anything which is beyond confounding.

"I feel great, actually. No different from how I was before my sleeping problem started." Serah noticed the confusion and worry in her sister's tone. Serah had the same confusion and worry on her face "Yeah, I know. Things are getting weird."

The next day the Guardian Corps announced the outcome of the attack the previous night, dozens wounded and only two soldiers had been killed. They gathered up all the destroyed machines, as all the Genesis copies had disintegrated back into the cloud they came from, and fenced off the crater with the strange structure. Lightning wasn't cleared to return to work yet, as she had only recovered last night under mysterious circumstances but she was standing at the fence, in casual clothes with her old Guardian Corps jacket and Blaze Edge in it's slightly modified sheath so it would hang on her back, watching the strange structure.

"You've been standing here for two hours," Hope said as he walked up beside Lightning, Noel just behind him "I think the soldiers are getting nervous with you glaring at that thing."

"That thing is connected to everything." Lightning nearly growled "I just know it." Lightning would never admit that she could feel some sort of pull towards the object. Some subliminal feeling wanted her to go to the object, her gut instinct said that it would lead to answers.

"What are you thinking?" Hope asked, seeing the gears turning in her head.

"That thing looks a bit like that portal Jenova made for us in Orphan's Cradle. I can't help but wonder where it leads, if it is a portal."

"Then let's go check it out," Fang said in her usual flippant tone, her sudden appearance behind them nearly startled Lightning and Hope, Noel had seen her coming "Been a while since we had an adventure."

Lightning nodded her agreement and stepped through the Guardian Corps fence with Hope, Noel, Fang, and Vanille (who was always with Fang). None of the soldiers stopped them as they were the heroes of The Fall, Hope was a councilman of Oerba, and Lightning was still a colonel. They walked right up to the object, Lightning in the lead, and just in front of the object with the hazy image in the center. Casting a look over her shoulders at her friends, Lightning raised a hand and placed it on the object. Nothing happened, at first.

_An artefact that doesn't belong shall release the lock on the relic that shouldn't be._

The strange words passed through Lightning's mind and she felt a tingling in her thigh, right where her thigh satchel was hanging. Without hesitation, she opened it and felt something that didn't belong, a folded photo. She could tell by how it felt. Pulling it out and unfolding it, she felt tears well up at the sight. The photo was of Lightning and Sephiroth sitting on a loveseat each holding one of two babies, she had a silver haired one and he had a pink haired baby. The other former l'Cie were on both sides of and behind the loveseat. Sazh had Dajh on his shoulders, Snow had his arm around Serah, Zack was holding Aerith bridal style, Vanille had Hope in a headlock, Angeal, Genesis, and Fang were just standing proudly. The best part, in Lightning's opinion, was that everyone looked truly happy.

"This is-" The pinkette cut herself off just as her voice threatened to break.

"Something wrong?" Vanille asked as she looked over Lightning's shoulder and gasped, making Fang much more interested. The huntress had the same reaction.

Lightning took a deep breath to regain her composure before speaking "Ready?"

"Ready!" Vanille chirped.

"When you are, Sunshine." Fang chuckled.

"Perhaps Noel and I should stay here. If that thing is a portal like the one in Orphan's Cradle, you're gonna want someone to hold down the fort while your gone," Hope speculated, being as positive as he could "Besides, Oerba would fall apart without me.

"And my job is to keep him safe." Noel added.

Lightning just nodded then touched the photo to the object and the image came into focus. It was an image of looking up at some manner of ruined spire, it reminded Lightning, Fang, and Vanille of Taejin's Tower. They felt energy build up in the air around them then constrict on them. Their bodies glow brightly, there was no change to the three women, for a second before vanishing entirely for those watching. Moments later, their feet hit hard ground and they took a look around at where they landed. It was about midday and Lightning just noticed then that Fang was in her usual "Huntress Outfit" as she called it and Vanille was her old clothing as well, including the pelt she wore on the back of her skirt, with Genesis' Rapier at her left hip instead of the binding rod on her back.

The area itself was dirty and ruined. The women were standing on a patch of packed and hardened dirt but all around them was chunks and piles of stone, wood, and metal. All of it shredded and broken. Their gaze moved further out and they saw the shredded ruins were high above them as well, connected to a giant capsule like structure with a massive hole near the top. They turned as they observed and saw something long and huge high above them and that reached back to an imposingly tall structure leaning at a precarious angle and with a gaping hole more than halfway up. It was amazing that the spire was standing at all. But then it all sparked and connected in their minds.

"This is Midgar…" Lightning just about whisper.

Gunfire sounded close to them quickly followed by a sound the three women knew far too well from their time as l'Cie. The piercing scream of a Cie'th. Lightning, Fang, and Vanille shared a look, nodded to each other, and drew their weapons. They raced around piles of rubble to aid whoever was fighting Cie'th but quickly found out they were not needed.

There was a dozen Cie'th being torn apart by gunfire from six soldiers in tan uniforms and one tan colored scorpion robot identical to the handful that attacked Oerba, albeit color. All the Cie'th were dead and melting into the same darkness the Genesis Copies had just a minute after the three former l'Cie came across the battle. The soldiers all looked over to the three women, the machine also looked over. The lead soldier said something into a device strapped to his shoulder and seconds later a very loud black flying machine came into view, Lightning recognized the six guns attached to the wings as chain guns, and every gun in the small area was trained on the three.

"This area is restricted by the WRO!" A voice on a loudspeaker announced, most likely from the loud black flying machine "Drop your weapons and raise your hands! We are authorized to use lethal force!"

Lightning, Fang, and Vanille looked to each other trying to wordlessly agree on a path of action. They didn't have their l'Cie powers but the soldiers had one of those robot scorpions that attacked Oerba. But, the soldiers were killing Cie'th.

"Last warning! Drop your weapons or we'll open fire!"

Lightning dropped Blaze Edge and laced her fingers on the back of her head. Fang and Vanille followed suit. The soldiers carefully approached the three and kicked away the weapons, then roughly bound their wrists with thin plastic straps. Lightning noticed the Guardian Corps used similar items to arrest people but that wasn't important. The important part was the plastic straps had to be cut off and the three former l'Cie were just arrested on a world they didn't know.

**Yay, chapter 3 is done! I rewrote several parts of this over and over again. I also realized that with Timeline alteration, I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. I didn't beta read this so... let me know about errors please.**

**Please leave a Review.**


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